Metal grille fabric



June 5, 1934. B. GREEN METAL GRILLE FABRIC Filed Oct. 2a, 1935ZSheets-Sheet l v June 5, 1934. GREEN 1,961,852

METAL GRILLE FABRIC Patented June 5, 1934 UNITED STATES METAL GRILLEFABRIC Lee B. Green,

- land, Ohio, a

17 Claims.

My invention relates to louver-type grilles fabricated from sheet metal,in which the louver blades are of a rearwardly open U-section and areconnected to one another by cross-members fastened to all of the blades,such grilles being now widely used on passenger automobiles where eachsuch grille is disposed across the frontal airadmitting opening of thehousing for the engine to guard against having gravel or the like tossedthrough this opening against the radiator core in front of engine, andalso to reduce the visibility of the radiator core.

In a grille designed for this purpose, each blade is usually formed bybending a sheet metal strip of uniform width about its transverselymedial portion. To secure an adequate total area of theair-admittingpassages between the blades, the

spread of each blade usually is much smaller than the spacing betweenthe consecutive (gen- 0 erally parallel) blades; and to reduce thenumber of blade-connecting cross-bars, portions of which are visiblebetween the blades, these cross-bars are usually spaced from each otherby distances enormously greater than the spread of each blade-as forexample from 50 to 100 times as great.

Owing to this relatively great spacing of the cross-bars, the part ofeach blade which extends between two consecutive cross-bars is left freeto flex laterally, and such flexing is all the more likely to occur whenthe blades are formed of quite thin metal so as to reduce the weight andcost of the grille. And, since U-sectioned blades-particularly when of aspread which is a minor fraction of the depth (or blade-web width) ofthe blade-are commonly made of metal of low resiliency, an undue lateralflexing of such a blade may easily lead to a permanent set of the bend,thereby greatly marring the appearance of the grille and also reducingits guarding efficiency.

Moreover, the relatively small total spread of the two webs of such ablade, particularly in proportion to the horizontal depth of the blade,affords such a limited basal anchorage-spread at the connection of eachblade to a cross-arm, that a side strain applied to the forward portionof a blade at a considerable distance from any crossbar may tend to rockthe blade about the crossbars to an extent which the ordinary fasteningof the blade to the cross-bar is hardly able to resist.

Furthermore, the narrow spread of the blades in proportion to their freespacing leaves the major portion of the length of each cross-bar visible(from the front of the car) between the blades,

Lakewood, Ohio, Globe Machine & Stamping assignor to The Company,Clevecorporation of Ohio Application October 28,

1933, Serial No. 695,634 (Cl. 189-82) and since such bars are usually ofa cheap black bars or other cross-members are usually also too narrow toaiiord as firm an anchorage for the blades as would be advisable forresistance to abnormal strains.

My present invention aims to overcome the above recited objections byproviding a generally Usectioned blade which will afford an anchoragespread at each cross-arm of much greater spread than that of the bladeparts between the crossarms; which will permit the anchored portions ofthe numerous blades of the grille to conceal the cross-arms entirely,even when these cross-arms are widened to enhance the rigidity of theanchoring of the blades to them; and which blade also will have suitablypositioned portions thereof formed so as to be engaged by an adjacentblade to limit the lateral flexing of blades.

Furthermore, my invention aims to dispose the just mentionedflex-limiting portions so that they will form pattern lines which willimpress any one viewing the grille so as to detract from his clearlyseeing portions of a radiator core (or other object) behind the grille,thereby enabling the grille to afford its intended ornamenting purposesmore adequately.

In addition, my invention aims to provide novel means for anchoring suchgrille blades to cross-members, and an expeditious method of effectingthis anchoring. And in that aspect, my invention aims to provide agrille in which the adjacent web portions of each two consecutive bladesare fastened conjointly to each crossarm and engage each other fiatwiseto brace the consecutive blades against each other.

Illustrative of the manner in which I accomplish the just recitedobjects, Fig. 1 is a fragmentary front elevation of a grille embodyingmy invention.

Fig; 2 is an enlarged rear elevation of the grille part A of Fig. 1,with portions of the blades broken away.

Fig. 3 is an enlarged and fragmentary side elevation, taken from theline 3-3 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 4 is an enlarged perspective View of the grille portion A of Fig.1, with portions of the blades broken away.

Fig. 5 is a fragmentary perspective View of one of the cross-bars, drawnon a scale intermediate that of Figs. 1 and 3.

Fig. 6 is a section taken along the line 66 of Fig. 2, showing also aportion of a tool with which web portions of the blades were deformed totheir illustrated shapes.

Fig. '7 is a section allied to Fig. 6, but with the tool portionomitted, showing the blade webs as they appear when first inserted inthe slots of the cross-bar.

Fig. 8 is an elevation of a larger portion of the grille fabric shown inFig. 1, drawn on a smaller scale.

Figs. 9, 10 and 11 are elevations showing fragments of other grillefabrics embodying my invention and for which the anchoring arrangementof Figs. 2 and 6 is suitable.

Fig. 12 is a fragmentary perspective view of an embodiment of my grillein which the anchored portions of adjacent blades are not contiguous toeach other, and Fig. 13 is a perspective view of a portion of across-bar suitably slotted for this purpose.

Fig. 14 is an enlarged rear elevation showing an alternative deformingof the portions of a blade which anchor a blade of Fig. 12 to thecross-bar.

In constructing upright grilles with upright blades as shown in Fig. 1and Figs. 8 to 11 inclusive, I first form grille blades of the customarysimple U-section by correspondingly bending sheet metal strips, so thateach blade in its preliminary form is of a uniform channel or U- sectionsuch as that shown at the upper ends of the three blades in Fig. 4;whereby each blade presents two parallel webs l and has the outer facesof these webs spaced by a width W (Fig.

4) considerably less than the desired spacing S between the mediallongitudinal planes P of consecutive blades.

Then, by easily performed punch-press operations, I widen the U-sectionof each blade in relatively short portions N of the blade, with thetransverse center lines L of these widened portions spaced(longitudinally of the blade) by distances D corresponding to theconsecutive spacings of the center lines of the cross-bars C to whichthe blades are to be fastened, as shown in Fig. 8. Each such widenedblade portion N is preferably of somewhat greater interior length H(Fig. 2) than the exterior width 3 of the cross-bar which is to beopposite it, and of an extreme spread S (Fig. 4), corresponding to thesaid spacing S of the longitudinal mid-planes P of consecutive blades inthe proposed grille.

Then I provide channel-sectioned cross-bars with slots 8 each of whichextends rearwardly through the (forwardly facing) channel-back C andbeyond this channel-back for a uniform distance, which distancedesirably is a minor fraction of the depth 5 (Fig. 5) of the channelwebs of the cross-bar, these slots having their longitudinal mid-planesspaced consecutively by the aforesaid distance S. Moreover, the width ofeach slot is double the thickness of the steel from which the blades areformed, so that rearward parts of each side web 4 of such a widenedblade portion N can extend through a slot 8 in the cross-bar conjointlywith a side web 4 of the widened portion N of an adjacent blade.

In assembling a grille from such blades and cross-bars, I desirablyfirst support the suitably spaced cross-bars with their channel-backsupward, and then slide the webs e of the widened blade portions into thecross-bar slots 8 until the free edges of these webs engage the slotbottoms. When the said slots are of such a width that each thereofsnugly fits the oppositely directed faces of the contiguous side webs aof widened parts of two consecutive blades, these webs will then befrictionally held in the slots so that the resulting temporary assemblycan readily be inverted to support it on a horizontal plate B (as shownin Fig. '7) while the blade portions between the channel webs 6 of eachcrossbar are deformed to clinch the blades to the cross-bar.

For this clinching operation, I desirably employ a bar 9, suitablysupported. so as to be disposed parallel to the channel-back C of thecrossbar and carrying depending pins 10 as shown in Fig. 6, which pinshave their axes spaced consecutively from each other by a distance 11which is double the spread of a widened blade portion N. Each of thesepins has an approximately hemispherical lower end and has this endspaced somewhat upwardly from the inward (or normally rearward) face ofthe channel-back of the cross-bar.

The pin-carrying bar 9 is then slid forcibly toward the right, so thateach pin simultaneously distends the parts of two contiguous webportions (such as la and 4 in Fig. 7) which are between the channel websof the cross-arm, so as to form these web parts to the shape of asegment of a cup, and also to distend the free edges of these web partsto an arcuate shape of greater length than the spacing between the saidchannel webs. When th pin-carrying bar 9 is then slid forcibly and to asimilar extent in the opposite direction, each pin 10 similarly distendsand deforms the overlapping blade-web portions at the other side of thepin, thereby likewise deforming these into overlapping cup-segmentportions (as shown in Figs. 2 and 6) and anchoring blades both againstretraction from the slots through which they extend and against slidingtransversely of the cross-bars.

The depth of each of the cross-arm slots 8 also desirably isconsiderably shorter than the interior width 12 (Figs. 3 and 7) of theside webs of the widened blade portions, which webs become narrower thanthe main blade web parts 1 during the operation of forming the widenedblade portions. As the result of this proportioning, each widened bladefront portion N opposite a crossarm is spaced forwardly from thechannel-back C of the cross-arm, as shown in Figs. 6 and '7, so that thewidened parts of adjacent blades present portions (such as 4 and a inFig. 6) of considerable area in flat-wise engagement with each other.Since these contiguous portions can extend substantially to the frontface of the grille, this interengagement braces each blade against thenext one at every cross-arm, thereby not only adding rigidity to thegrille but also stiffening the cross-arm so that the latter can also beformed of light steel. Moreover, each row of the widened blade portionsadjacent to a cross-arm entirely conceals the cross-arm.

In practice, relatively few cross-arms, spaced by distances which may beat least fifty times the total spread of the main web portions 1 of eachblade (as in Fig. 1) suffice in grilles of this general class, and whenthe blades are formed of thin sheet metal, the lengths of the bladeparts between consecutive cross-arms might be such as to permit asidewise impact against a blade (at a point considerably spaced from thecross-arms) to flex the impacted portion of the blade unduly. To avoidthis, I desirably also form auxiliary widened portions A on at leastevery alternate blade at points intermediate of the aforesaid relativelycontacting widened portions N.

Since these auxiliary widened blade portions A do not come opposite anycross-arms, they can be considerably shorter than the portions N, and byvarying the number and location of the said auxiliary portions I canalso produce highly artistic variations in the appearance of my heredisclosed grilles, andin every case can enhance the resistance of theblades to strains tending to flex a blade toward an adjacent one.

Illustrative of such variations, Fig. 10 shows a fragment of a grille inwhich every alternate blade has the entire portion 1 between twoconsecutive cross-arms C of conventional uniform U-section, while eachintermediate blade has a single widened portion A midway between theconsecutive cross-arms. With a thus constructed grille, each illustratedblade part will engage an adjacent one as soon as it is flexed totherelatively short distance 13, whereupon the blade engaged by it willreceive some of the flexing strain to prevent the flexed blade frombeing curved to an extent exceeding the resiliency of the metal.

Moreover, if the blades provided with the auxiliary widened portions Aare counterparts of each other, these portions of the alternate bladeswill aline along center-1ines 14 parallel to the centerlines 15 of thewidened blade portions N of all blades, so as to present interruptedlines which cooperate with the continuous stripe effects of the portionsN to give the grille a much more ornamental appearance than it wouldhave if constructed with blades which are all of a conventional uniformU-section.

Instead of providing only every alternate crossarm-spanning blade partwith an auxiliary widened portion A and disposing 'all of the portions Abetween two adjacent cross-arms along a single line 14, as in Fig. 10, Imay provide each such blade part with a widened auxiliary portion A ,andrelatively invert the alternate (identically formed) blades.

By doing this and spacing each of the said widened portions A from oneof the adjacent crossarms C by about one-third the distance between thecross-arms, I produce the considerable different appearing grille ofFig. 8. In this grille of which Fig. 1 shows an enlarged fragment itwill be obvious that each blade, if unduly flexed laterally, will eitherhave its narrow portion 1 engage an auxiliary portion A on the nextadjacent blade, or have widened portion A on the first named bladeengage a narrow portion of the said adjacent blade; so that I enhancethe cooperation of the blades in resisting lateral flexing.

This cooperative action is also enhanced if the auxiliary widenedportions are provided on all blades and in alinement with each othertransversely of the blades, thereby further varying the ornamentalappearance also. Thus, Fig. 11 shows a part of a metal grille fabric inwhich the blades are all counterparts of each other, and in which thepart of each blade between two consecutive cross-arm engaging portion Nis provided with two spaced auxiliary widened portions A. In thisfigure, the spacing between the two portions A of each blade isconsiderably less than that of either portion A from the adjacentcross-arm engaging portion N thereby producing an appearanceconsiderably different fro-m that shown in Fig. 9 where each auxiliaryportion A is equally spaced from another portion A and from one of thecrossarm engaging portions N.

And in both Fig. 11 and Fig. 9 it will be obvious that each auxiliaryblade portion A is spaced from a similar portion of the next consecutiveblade by a distance which is a quite small fraction of the free spacing16 between unwidened parts of these blades, so that the said auxiliarywidened blade portions will permit only a quite limited lateral flexingof any blade.

In carrying out my invention, the number of auxiliary widened portionsand their spacing in the part of each blade between two cross-bars maybe varied, both according to the spacing of the cross-bars and accordingto the desired ornamental appearance.

For example, in Fig. 9 each blade has two such auxiliary widenedportions A disposed between two consecutive (and still more widened)portions N, and the consecutive center-to-center spacing of all widenedportions is uniform in all of the blades. As the result, all theauxiliary widened portions A are disposed in rows transverse of theblades, and these portions A in each row are consecutively spaced bydistances considerably shorter than the width of any one such portionand disposed for interengaging when any blade is laterally flexed to aquite small extent. Consequently, this grille fabric will permit only anexceedingly limited extent, even if the length of the fabric weredoubled or trebled (in proportion to its width) with the same number ofcross-bars and widened blade portions. And this will also be true wheneach of the two portions A is nearer to the companion one than to theadjacent anchored portion N, as in Fig. 11.

In Fig. 8, each blade has only a single auxiliary or secondary widenedportion between two consecutive portions N of the major widened form,these auxiliary widened portions in consecutive blades being inrelatively staggered disposition, so that each thereof is disposed forengaging an unwidened blade portion 1. This, as will be evident by acomparison with Fig. 9, increases the total area of the air passagesbetween the blades, and the staggering of the auxiliary widened portionsalso gives the fabric a difierent ornamental appearance.

However, with only a single such auxiliary (or stop-forming widenedportion A between each two consecutive portions N, each such portion Amight be midway between the two portions N and these auxiliary portionsA may be provided only on the alternate blades, as shown in Fig. 10.

Moreover, while I have heretofore described my invention in connectionwith embodiments including a series of highly desirable details ofconstruction and arrangement, I do not wish to be limited in theserespects, since many changes might be made without departing either fromthe spirit of my invention or from the appended claims. Nor do I wish tobe limited to the conjoint use of the various novel features of myinvention, or to the particular assembly method described in connectionwith Fig. 6.

For example, since the expeditious simultaneous fastening of parts ofcontiguous blades does not depend on the providing of widened flex-stopportions on the blades, it will be obvious without separate picturingthat this bladeanchoring could be used advantageously in a grille fabricin which all blades are like the one of which a section is shown by theleft-hand blade in Fig. 10.

Likewise, since the side-bracing eifect secured by the contacting ofadjacent wide blade portions N (as in Fig. 4) operates independently ofthe flex-limiting action of the less widened portions A,'these latterportions might also be used advantageously with blades which are spacedapart even at their fastenings to the cross-arms, as shown in Fig. 12;in which case the cross-arm would be provided (as in Fig. 13) with aseparate pair of slots 8 for receiving the webs of each blade.

Furthermore, while my metal grille fabric is particularly suitable forautomobile radiator grilles, I do not wish to be limited as to its uses.

I claim as my invention:

1. A metal grille fabric comprising parallel blades of rearwardly openU-section, the spread of each blade being wider in relatively shortblade portions thereof, spaced longitudinally of the blade, than in themajor parts of the blades; and cross-bars connecting the said blades;the said short blade portions of consecutive blades being disposed inrows extending ransversely of the blades; and cross-bars each fastenedto the said short portions constituting one of the said rows.

2. A metal grille fabric as per claim 1, in which each cross-bar is ofless width than the length of the short blade portions to which thecrossbar, and in which the cross-bar extends behind frontal parts of theshort blade portions so that these portions conceal the cross-bar.

3. A grille fabric as per claim 1, in which the adjacent webs of widenedportions of consecu tivc blades laterally engage each other.

4. A grill fabric as per claim 1., in which the adjacent webs of widenedportions of consecutive blades contact flatwise with each other; andcross-members connecting the blades, each crossmember being fastenedconjointly to the flatwise contacting webs of widened portions of twoconsecutive blades.

5. A metal grille fabric comprising parallel blades each of a rearwardlyopen U-scction presenting parallel webs, and cross-bars connecting theblades; the said U-section in the major portions of each blade beinguniform and less than half the spacing between the medial longitudinalplanes of consecutive blades, and cross-bars extending transversely ofand secured to the rearward portions of both webs of each blade;longitudinally spaced and relatively short portions of each blade havingtheir U sections wider than those of the said major portions of theblades so as to reduce the spacing between the said short portions ofconsecutive blades, the widened portions in the several blades of thegrille alining with each other in rows extending transversely of theblades.

6. A grille fabric as per claim 5, in which each cross-bar is of arearwardly open channel section and has transverse slots extendingrearwardly into it to a greater depth than the thickness of thechannel-back of the cross-bar, and in which the adjacent webs of widenedportions of consecutive blades extend conjointly through such slots.

7. A grille fabric as per claim 5, in which each cross-bar is of arearwardly open channel section and has transverse slots extendingrearwardly into it to a greater depth than the thickness of thechannel-back of the cross-bar, and in which the adjacent webs of widenedportions of consecutive blades extend conjointly through such slots, theparts of each such two adjacent webs which are disposed behind thechannel-back and between the two channel-webs of a cross-bar beingconjointly deformed to clinch them conjointly against the rear face ofthe said channel-back.

8. An upright metal grille fabric comprising parallel blades each of arearwardly open U- section presenting parallel webs; each bladecomprising longitudinally spaced main portions of a uniform spreadconsiderably less than the spacing between the medial longitudinalplanes of consecutive blades, and relatively shorter blade portionsinterposed between consecutive main portions; each of the said shorterblade portions being of wider spread than the said main portions, theshorter blade portions of different blades of the grille alining witheach other in rows transverse of the blades; and blade-connectingmembers extending transversely of the blades and rearward of the frontalportions of the blades and fastened only to web parts of widened bladeportions.

9. A metal grille fabric comprising parallel blades presenting theirfrontal portions in a common frontal surface, and spaced cross-membersextending transversely of the blades rearwardly of the said commonsurface and rigidly connecting the blades; the portions of the bladeswhich extend in front of each cross-member being of such a width as tocontact laterally with each other in consecutive blades, and the bladeparts between such laterally contacting portions of consecutive bladesbeing narrower than the said portions and freely spaced from each other.

10. A grille as per claim 9, in which each of the said laterallycontacting blade portions has its length a minor fraction of the spacingbetween the cross-member behind that blade and the next adjacent blade.

11. A grille as per claim 9, in which at least every alternate bladealso has secondary portions thereof, spaced from the said cross-bars, ofa width less than that of one of the said contacting portions butgreater than that of the major portion of the blade between twoconsecutive contacting portions.

12. An upright metal grille fabric comprising upright parallel bladeseach of a rearwardly open U-section presenting parallel webs, andspaced. cross-members extending transversely of and fastened to all ofthe blades, the lateral spread of each blade in the major portions ofthe blade being uniform and being considerably less than the spacingbetween the medial longitudinal planes of consecutive blades so as tospace the major portions of consecutive blades from each other by aconsiderable distance; relatively shorter portions of each blade,disposed between and spaced from consecutive cross-members, being of alateral spread greater than that of the said major blade portions so asto reduce the lateral spacing between each such shorter blade portionand each of the two adjacent blades, whereby each of the said shorterblade portions is disposed for engaging an adjacent blade to limit theflexing toward each other of the parts of the blades disposed betweenconsecutive cross-members.

13. A grille fabric as per claim 12, in which the said shorter bladeportions in consecutive blades aline with each other transversely of theblades.

14. A grille fabric as per claim 12, in which the said shorter bladeportions in alternate blades aline with each other transversely of theblades, and in which the part of the blade between such alined portionsof alternate blades is of the said uniform spread of the major portionsof the blades.

15. A louver-type metal grille fabric comprising parallel bladespresenting their frontal portions in a common frontal surface, theconsecutive blades having their medial longitudinal planes spaced byuniform spacings; and spaced cross-bars extending transversely of theblades and rearwardly of the said common surface and connecting theblades; the frontal portion of each part of a blade which extends infront of a crossbar being of a width corresponding to the said spacing,so that these parts of consecutive blades contact with and laterallybrace each other, and the remaining portions of the blades beingnarrower than the said spacing.

16. A louver element for a metal grille fabric comprising a U-sectionalblade of generally uniform spread having the spread of its U-sectionwidened in blade portions spaced longitudinally of the blade, and alsohaving the U-section widened to a lesser extent in secondary blade

